A game anda puzzle!

Aunt Annie's Crafts

Triangle Board Solitaire

What you will make:

Solitaire isn't just a card game! In this project, you'll make a
board game for one player, called board solitaire or peg solitaire. The
triangle-shaped board in this project is designed for marble playing pieces, but can
also be made as a simple "print, cut, and play" game board.

This project is rated EASY to do.

How to Make Triangle Board Solitaire for Marbles

Read all of the steps before starting.

Step 1: Choose a Pattern and Print It

Choose a Board Solitaire game board to make—colored, black and white, plain, or with
designs. Download and print the pattern onto cardstock. Select the
black and white pattern and use your creativity to add color and
designs. It can also be printed onto colored or patterned cardstock. The Marble Tiles patterns are used to make the game board
suitable for marble playing pieces. The Triangle-plus game boards
have additional spaces and do not have matching marble tiles. Tip: To see a set of moves that results in a perfect game, use the
perfect solution printables as a reference.

Easy Game Board: The Simple Game Board
patterns are for easy "print, cut, and play" game boards. Just follow the
instructions in the English Board Solitaire
craft project.

All of Aunt Annie's project patterns are designed to be printed on standard letter-size paper (8.5"x11" or A4).
When printing from Adobe Reader, you may need to select Auto-Rotate and Center or Choose paper source by PDF page size to ensure the best fit.

Step 2: Color (optional)

If you printed the black and white pattern, color the game board with any colors you like. You could color the
small triangles with
alternating colors—pick two contrasting colors or leave half the squares white.

Tip: If you printed a colored version of the board, you can still add a personal touch
by decorating the border around it.

Step 3: Cut

Trim the game board pattern to a triangle shape on the black
outline or leave equal borders of white on all sides of the game board.

Step 4: Glue to Cardboard (optional)

If you have printed on computer paper, you may want to glue the board to cardboard. Skip this step
if you printed on cardstock, or if you want to make a paper board.

Cut a piece of cardboard a little bigger than the game board. Glue the game board to the cardboard.
Cardboard from an empty cereal box works well. Trim away the extra cardboard around the edges of the game board.

Tip: Be sure that the glue goes from edge to edge and into the corners.

Step 5: Print Marble Tiles

Print the pattern for the Marble Tiles on computer
paper. Choose the pattern that goes with your game board.
Tip: The Marble Tiles are optional and are for
using marbles as playing pieces. If you use flat pieces or coins,
the tiles are not needed.

If you printed the black and white Marble Tiles pattern on
white paper, color the squares with any colors you like, or
leave them white.

Step 6: Glue Tiles to Cardboard

Cut a piece of cardboard big enough for all three tile pieces. Cardboard
from an empty cereal box works well. Glue the tiles to the
cardboard. Be sure to cover the tile pieces completely, edge-to-edge,
with glue.

Tip: You can cut apart the three tile pieces to
make it easier to fit them on the cardboard.

Step 7: Cut Tile Pieces and Punch

Cut out each of the three tile pieces on the outline. Do not cut
out the smaller hexagons.

Punch a hole in the center of each hexagon. Use the circle in the
center of the hexagon as a guide. Skip this step if you are not
using marbles as games pieces.

Tip: If the hole punch can't reach to the marked
circle, cut on the line between two tiles and slip the punch through
the slit.

Step 8: Glue Tiles to Game Board

Arrange the tile pieces on the game board before gluing them in place.
The tiles will fit together to form a solid surface. Be sure to center each
punched hole
over a circle on the game board.

Tip: Lightly marking the center of each circle
with a pencil will make it easier for you to place the tiles
accurately. Be sure to arrange the tiles so that there is a
different-colored hexagon at each corner of the triangle.

Once you are satisfied with the tile arrangement, carefully glue each
tile piece to the game board. Wipe any excess
glue from around the tiles and from the holes. Let the glue dry, and
you are ready to play solitaire.

Step 9: Play Board Solitaire

You need 14 marbles (or playing pieces, 20 for Triangle-plus)) to go with the
solitaire board. You can make your
own marbles with homemade Modeling Dough.

The object of the game is to remove as many pieces
as you can from the board. A big win is to remove all of the pieces except one. A perfect game is to leave
the last piece in the center space that was initially empty.

Turn the game board so that the triangle's base is closest to you. Place one marble playing piece in each hole except the center one
of the bottom row. For Triangle-plus, leave empty one of the two
spaces on the third row.

All moves are captures.

A capture is made by jumping over a piece.

A captured piece is removed from the board.

All jumps go over an adjacent piece to an empty
space beyond.

Start by jumping into an empty space and removing the jumped piece.

Continue making jumps, and removing pieces until all possible captures have been made.

How many pieces do you have left? Play again to see if you can do better. Take turns playing with a friend,
and see who can do best.

To see a set of moves that results in a perfect game, use the
perfect solution
printables as a reference. Start with the piece on the space marked
number 1. Jump over the piece indicated by the arrow to the space beyond. Remove the jumped piece
from the board. Continue making jumps in numerical order. The last piece will be in the square marked
with the star.